By GiddingsH.B. No. 107
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to specialized license plates to support an elementary student reading program.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Subchapter F, Chapter 502, Transportation Code, is amended by adding Section
502.289 to read as follows:
Sec. 502.289. READ TO SUCCEED. (a) The department shall issue specially designed
"Read to Succeed" license plates for passenger cars and light trucks.
(b) The license plates must include the words "Read to Succeed" and be of a color, quality,
and design approved by the commissioner of education.
(c) The department shall issue license plates under this section to a person who:
(1) applies to the county assessor-collector of the county in which the person resides
on new title applications or yearly registration renewal forms provided by the department; and
(2) pays an annual fee in the amount set under Subsection (d), in addition to the fee
prescribed by Section 502.161, and, if personalized prestige license plates are issued, in addition
to the fee prescribed by Section 502.251.
(d) The department shall set the annual fee for license plates under this section at an amount
equal to $25 plus an amount, not to exceed $5, necessary to administer this section.
(e) The department shall deposit $25 of each fee collected under this section to the credit of
the "Read to Succeed" account established under Section 29.354, Education Code.
(f) The remainder of each fee collected under this section, after deposit as provided by
Subsection (e), may be used only to defray the cost of administering this section.
SECTION 2. Chapter 29, Education Code, is amended by adding Subchapter J to read as
follows:
SUBCHAPTER J. READ TO SUCCEED
Sec. 29.351. PROGRAM REQUIRED. The commissioner shall develop a program, to be
called the "Read to Succeed" program, under which grants are made to public school campuses
to provide extra reading education to students in kindergarten through third grade who are
reading below grade level.
Sec. 29.352. ELIGIBILITY. To receive a grant under this subchapter a school campus must
have at least 35 percent of its students in kindergarten through third grade reading below grade
level. The extra reading education must be provided to those students after regular classroom
hours. These funds may not be used by the school campus to supplant any existing programs.
Sec. 29.353. ADMINISTRATION BY COMMISSIONER. The commissioner shall:
(1) determine additional guidelines for eligibility for a grant under this subchapter;
(2) prescribe the procedure for application for and making of grants;
(3) perform other activities the commissioner considers necessary to carry out this
subchapter; and
(4) appoint an advisory board of eleven members to serve without compensation or
expense reimbursement to assist the commissioner in developing program goals, determining
which eligible applicants receive grants, the amount of each grant, and promoting the "Read to
Succeed" license plates.
Sec. 29.354. READ TO SUCCEED ACCOUNT. (a) The comptroller shall maintain a "Read
to Succeed" account in the general revenue fund. The account is composed of:
(1) money required to be deposited to the credit of the account under Section
502.289, Transportation Code; and
(2) donations made to the account.
(b) Money in the "Read to Succeed" account shall be used only to make grants under this
subchapter.
SECTION 3. A grant may not be made under Subchapter J, Chapter 29, Education Code, as
added by this Act, before August 1, 1998.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997.
SECTION 5. The importance of this legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in
both houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that the constitutional rule
requiring bills to be read on three several days in each house be suspended, and this rule is
hereby suspended, and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage, and it
is so enacted.